Michelle Malkin made a prediction yesterday that Hillary Clinton wouldn’t dare offer her opinion on the matter involving Vice President Dick Cheney and the weekend hunting accident because of the parallels between that story and one from 1996. Apparently, Hillary’s handlers forgot to read Malkin’s blog yesterday, or scour news archives to see if a Cheney comment could potentially backfire on the former first lady.
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Aug. 27, 1996) — The same day Hillary Clinton was scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention, newly released documents suggest she was behind the 30-hour delay in releasing late White House counsel Vincent Foster’s suicide note to authorities.
How the White House handled Foster’s 1993 death, and the possibility that administration officials improperly removed documents from his office or impeded an official search of it, has been the subject of intense scrutiny by congressional Republicans and the media.
The newly released memo, written by White House lawyer Miriam Nemetz, quotes then-White House chief of staff Mack McLarty as saying Mrs. Clinton “was very upset and believed the matter required further thought and the president should not yet be told” about Foster’s note.
According to the document, Mrs. Clinton “said they should have a coherent position and should have decided what to do before they told the president.”
That contradicts sworn testimony to the Senate Whitewater Committee from Clinton staffers that the first lady had no role whatsoever in the handling of Foster’s note.
A few points stand out here. First, the 30–hour delay before the release of Foster’s suicide note. Second, Hillary’s excuse for not informing the president, or the media, because she was upset and needed more time to think, and finally, Hillary’s claim that they should have a coherent position and a decision on what to do before they told the president (and again, the media).
Fast forward to yesterday. Hillary offered up this comment regarding Cheney’s accident.
Asked at a press conference for her reaction about how the White House has handled the incident, US Senator Hillary Clinton called the Bush administration’s failure to be more forthcoming “troubling.”
“A tendency of this administration — from the top all the way to the bottom — is to withhold information … to refuse to be forthcoming about information that is of significance and relevance to the jobs that all of you do, and the interests of the American people,” Clinton said.
“Putting it all together, going back years now, there’s a pattern and it’s a pattern that should be troubling,” she said at a press conference calling for a more robust federal response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
The former first lady continued: “The refusal of this administration to level with the American people on matters large and small is very disturbing, because it goes counter to the way our constitutional democracy … is supposed to work.”
Funny how this is such a disturbing and troubling story today, one which counters our constitutional democracy! Yet, if Hillary were to be reminded about her own decision to withhold for more than 24 hours information about a suicide which might just prompt other questions about Foster’s motives, involvements, and interconnectedness with the former first lady, would it be characterized the same way? Would anyone in the MSM claim that our constitutional democracy was in peril when Hillary’s husband was in the White House?
Heh, I wish.
Hillary is notorious for her selective memory, and I have no doubt that she would react with a throw back of the head and a chortle if any comparison between her and Cheney were to arise. Meanwhile, the MSM, whose selective memory is just as chronic, has already proven that they see no conflict between the Hillary of today and the Hillary of 1996.
For those keeping score, this is MSM double standard number 2,053,100.
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